


The Ways We Least Expect

by Marmoniel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 30 Prompts in 30 Days, Except done well, F/M, Homeless Harry, Homeless Luna, Jewish Character, Jewish Harry Potter, Jewish Luna Lovegood, Metamorphmagus Harry Potter, Metamorphmagus Luna Lovegood, Multi, NaNoWriMo, Schizophrenia, Schizophrenic Harry Potter, Schizophrenic Luna Lovegood, Schizophrenic character, Seer Harry Potter, Seer Luna Lovegood, TWs at beginnings of chapters, source: I have schizophrenia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27383452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marmoniel/pseuds/Marmoniel
Summary: 30 Harry/Luna stories for the 30 days of NaNoWriMo 2020.So far:1. Metamorphmagus AU, 2. Cassandra Curse, 3. Street Urchin AU, 4. Schizophrenia AU, 5. Psychic bond, 6. Jewish AU, 7. Seer Luna teaching Seer Harry, 8. Flatmates,
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 37





	1. The Masks We Choose

**Author's Note:**

> No TWs for this chapter!
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Also: Fuck JK Rowling

It was his fifth year when Harry met Luna Lovegood.

He had met her in the carriage ride up to Hogwarts, and while she seemed interesting, he didn’t pay her all that much attention. That was his mistake.

It was a rainy day when he was in a quiet corner of the library wearing a face that wasn’t his, using his Metamorphmagus powers to just get a quiet moment, away from everyone, when Luna came and sat down next to him.

“Hello, Harry,” she said, her voice clear, and his eyes snapped to her.

“My name’s not Harry,” He said, trying to salvage the situation. He knew he had a different face on, so what had given him away?

“Yes, it is, but I know you don’t look like Harry right now. That’s okay though, you can look however you want.” She said, and Harry gave in. Normally, with anyone else, he would have denied it longer, but with Luna, he could just tell he wasn’t going to be able to convince her otherwise for some reason.

“Okay, look, just please, don’t tell anyone you saw me like this.” He said.

“I won’t,” Luna said, fiddling with her butterbeer cork necklace. “As long as you don’t tell anyone that sometimes I do the same thing.”

“You— what? How?”

“Oh, well, it’s easy really. I just ask my face to look different, and it does.”

“You’re a Metamorphmagus?”

“That’s what most people call it, but I call it ‘Changing’.”

Harry sat back in his chair. Not only had he found someone else who could Change, when it was supposed to be incredibly rare, but she also called it the same thing. 

“Can I… see?” Harry said, wanting proof before he confessed to her his own skill in Changing, even if she already knew. It was different saying the words yourself, than being discovered.

In response, Luna leaned in closer and Harry watched as her eyes shifted from their normal silver colour, to his own familiar bright green.

A grin crept across Harry’s face, and after looking around to make sure no one was around and looking their way, he swapped his from the blue he was impersonating to Luna’s pale silver.

Her grin answered his, and their friendship was cemented.

It was a few months after the Battle of Hogwarts, the end of the war, when Luna received a letter from Harry. 

The two hadn’t properly talked for what felt like a long time. Every time they’d crossed paths in the year previous, there was always something else going on, something else that needed immediate attention.

_‘Dear Luna,_

_I am writing letter this without Hermione’s knowledge, despite her insistence by letter that I talk to ‘anyone please Merlin, just talk to anyone about anything.’_

_For some reason I never told anyone about our secret library hang outs, I’m not sure why. Well, that’s a lie, I do know why, but it’s not exactly something I can write in a letter. Maybe I’ll tell you when we hang out._

_Oh shite, that’s why I was writing this letter again, wasn’t it._

_Uh, yes, Luna, I would like to see you again. ~~I’ve missed you.~~ ~~I’ve~~ ~~FUCK~~ Ok, yes, I’ve missed you. I assume you won’t make fun of me for it. ~~You never have made fun of me before so I hope that~~_

_This letter is a portkey that’s set to go off 4th August at 1pm. It’ll take you to my house. If you don’t wish to see me, then don’t be touching the portkey when it activates. I ~~’ll only be a little offended~~ I promise I won’t be offended if you don’t come._

_Love From,_

_Harry.’_

The letter was a mess, but Luna thought it was sweet, and quintessentially Harry. She went to go tell her father that she would be gone for the following afternoon. He was quite protective of her now, but she refused to be cooped up in her own home.

When the portkey activated, Luna was held on to it, admiring the shapes whirling around her on the trip.

She landed gracefully on her feet, and was greeted with her first look at the Boy-Who-Lived-Again since the Battle of Hogwarts.

As she landed, Luna saw Harry’s shoulders relax and his fists unclench from where they were resting at his sides.

He hesitated for a moment, so Luna moved forward and engulfed her friend in a full-bodied, hug.

Harry was unresponsive in her arms for a few long moments, before his arms encircled her and squeezed back just as hard.

It wasn’t more than a few more moments when Luna felt Harry’s breath hitch, and soon he was sobbing into her shoulder.

Luna did nothing more except hold him tighter, providing him with comfort, lending him the strength that she had left. She had more than enough to share with him.

After a few minutes of Luna almost holding Harry upright, his sobs quelled and he drew back.

Luna could see he didn’t know what to say, so she spoke up.

“What a lovely house you have. It has its own aura to it, it’s very unique.”

Harry grinned at her, his eyes red but the fondness in them undeniable.

“Thanks, it was Sirius’. Turns out he made me his heir before he… well, I guess I’m the heir to two houses now? Potter and Black. Still figuring out the political stuff.” 

“Oh, that means that you have seats on the Wizengamot now. Good, that means you can make sure the Rotfang Conspiracy never starts again. 

“I will,” Harry said. “Now come on, want the tour? Kreacher has been doing a great job recently.”

“Kreacher?”

“My house elf. He used to be the Black family house elf. It’s a long story, but he doesn’t hate me anymore.”

“He must be very proud, this house is nice.”

“You’d be one of the few to think so.”

Harry lead Luna on a tour, showing her all the bedrooms, the library, formal living room, study, garden, and all the other rooms, ending in the basement kitchen, where there were two cups of tea prepared.

“See? House elf magic.”

“The Green Folk do have their own forms of magic, yes. I’ll have to tell Daddy that they make excellent tea,” Luna said, taking a sip of the tea.

“How is your father?” Harry said, a slight grimace on his face.

“He did tell me to tell you that he was sorry about trying to turn you and your friends in.”

“Right. Uh—”

“You don’t have to forgive him, or say that it’s okay. I was quite mad at him, of course. I told him off quite sternly.”

“You didn’t have to do that, Luna.”

“He deserved it!” Luna said, a rare moment of temper shining through her dreamy demeanour. Then she softened. “I know why he did it, but that doesn’t make it right.”

“If you need a place to stay, you’re welcome here,” Harry said.

“Oh, thank you, Harry, but it’s only for a short while before I go back to Hogwarts.”

The school had, by unspoken but unanimous decision, been the first place to be repaired, with many people pitching in and helping, until the repairs had been done in a record speed.

“Are you prepared for your second to last year?”

“Oh yes, after the last few years, nothing can go wrong.”

“I feel like you might have just jinxed it though.”

“I can’t have, I had my left eye closed when I said it.”

“I had wondered why you were winking at me.”

“Yes, winking has a lot of inherent magic in it.”

“I notice that you changed your hair, was that recent? You have, well, a lot less of it.”

“Oh yes, I decided to cut it all off. It was getting in the way, and someone at Malfoy Manor kept pulling it, which meant that whenever it got caught on anything I would have an unpleasant flash back. So, I asked my hair to be shorter, and it was.”

“You Changed it?”

“Oh, yes. Is that how you got your hair nice and long? It seems that we swapped.”

“I did it as soon as we started camping. It felt like it was time for a change. We spent long enough away from people that no one questioned it.”

“The things that witches and wizards will actually question is quite low, don’t you think? It’s all the Wrackspurts.”

“How are my Wrackspurts looking?”

“You have a cloud around your head, particularly your eyes.” Luna said, peering closer.

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“It can mean many things. Perhaps you aren’t seeing clearly, or you have a big decision to make, or your emotions are all muddled.”

“Can it means all those things at once?”

“Yes.”

“And I get rid of them by solving those things?”

“Yes, exactly,” Luna said, beaming at Harry, for he was listening and understanding.

“Oh, that’s easy then,” Harry said, and kissed her.

Luna smiled into the kiss for moment, before losing herself in it.

“I think we should go for a picnic,” She said, when the kiss had ended, and they’d both taken a moment. “You’ve been hiding in this house for too long.”

“Luna…”

“Harry.” Luna levelled the full weight of her gaze at him.

“Okay, okay, just put away that glare! Merlin, you could convince someone to walk off a cliff with that thing.”

“It hasn’t happened yet, but I’ll never say never, of course. What would be the point?”

“I’ll ask Kreacher to make us some sandwiches then. He gets grumpy if I try to make anything myself. I think he made some apple pie the other day too, let’s see if there’s any left.” Harry said. “Kreacher!”

“Yes, Master?” An elderly house elf popped up next to the table the two were sitting at.

“Can you please make us some sandwiches for a picnic? And grab anything else have that we can take?”

“Yes, Master, Kreacher will do so.”

“Thank you,” Harry slipped in as Kreacher popped away. “He never leaves me enough time to say thank you. He does it on purpose for sure.”

“He seems sneaky like that.”

Soon, the two were ready to go on their impromptu picnic. Kreacher had even procured a picnic basket that had been filled with food.

“One last thing,” Harry said, and Luna watched his face morph into a complete stranger’s, brown eyes and golden blonde hair. “Just until we find somewhere we can set up a privacy charm.”

Luna did the same, Changing into a long brown haired, blue eyed, young woman.

Harry held out his arm for Luna to take, and with that, they apparated away, for future adventures.


	2. The Curses We Hold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No TWs for this chapter.
> 
> Cassandra Curse AU!

No one ever believed her. 

Everything thing she Saw, no one believed.

Luna knew that she was cursed. There was no other answer for what was happening to her.

Like Cassandra the Prophet, she was cursed so that no one would ever believe her Sight. And Sight she indeed did have. 

Luna could see the Strings of Time. No moment in the past was closed to her, she only had to seek it out. The present was slightly harder to view, but still available. The future was the hardest form of her Sight to seek out. The future was always in flux, some moments clearer than others, some completely out of sight for her.

At the age of 10, when she mostly had her Sight figured out and nailed down, she had been able to see herself going to Hogwarts, and getting sorted into either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw (she could go either way), but when she tried to see who she hung out with, who her friends were, or anything else about the future of Hogwarts beyond small moments stolen here and there, it was like trying to see through a opaque pool of shining silver liquid the same hue as her eyes. 

By the age of 15, she had finally resigned herself to no one ever taking what she said seriously, so she began creating a shield of made up creatures like the walls of a castle around her.

Crumplehorned Snorcacks, Moon Frogs, Blibbering Humdingers, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Heliopaths, Umgubular Slashkilters, Nargles, Aquavirius Maggots, Wrackspurts, Gulping Plimpies, Dabberblimps, and more were all sprinkled into conversations, as she knew that as soon as she mentioned any of these kinds of creatures, people turned away from what she was talking about. 

It was a defence mechanism that she employed with ruthless abandon. 

While she was kind of friendly with Ginny Weasley, she wouldn’t have called her a friend until her fourth year at Hogwarts, when Harry Potter and his friends started Dumbledore’s Army, and she got dragged into a world of real magic.

And while no one believed her Sight still, they were her friends despite what they thought were her lies or mistaken thoughts, so while she wasn’t okay with it still, she could cope.

During the fight at the Ministry, where her and the other members of the DA refused to let Harry go alone, she used her Sight on the fly to see possibilities of the fight. She could see a Death Eater in the dark here, and knew a spell wouldn’t work there, so she adapted and used everything she had. 

She did not want to die without figuring out how to get rid of her curse. She did not want to die without anyone believing her. 

Luna only wished that she had been able to see Sirius dying, and had been able to stop it. What good was her Sight if she couldn’t stop terrible things happening?

If Luna’s heart was broken every time someone didn’t believe her Sight, than when she talked to Harry after his godfather died, it was torn out and stomped on.

He looked so lost. She could see in his eyes that he was far away, his grief strong, he was floating adrift in his own life.

Luna comforted him the best she could, her words bordering on Sight, but just vague enough that he would believe her. She could See that he would see Sirius Black again, she just didn’t know when or how. For all she knew, it would be in the afterlife, whenever he reached it, or something else entirely. To be honest, she wasn’t entirely ruling out necromancy. You never knew with Dark Lords, and Voldemort was known for his Inferi raising. Luna did however hope that wouldn’t be the case, though if anyone was going to figure out how to resurrect someone without a body, it would be either Voldemort or Harry Potter. Or perhaps Hermione Granger going on some wild research binge in the library and coming across it, then offering it to Harry after fretting about the moral and ethical consequences of it.

Really, there were many ways that Harry could see Sirius again, possibly in a way that no one had ever seen before. Perhaps Sirius would come charging out of the whispering veil with some secret weapon to stop the war and kill Voldemort. Who knew? Certainly not Luna, as the event of Harry and Sirius meeting again was beyond her considerable scope.

She left Harry behind after their conversation, and hoped his summer would be healing in all the right ways.

Checking with her Sight however, revealed that it would be anything but. 

So over the summer break, Luna did her best to send letters to Harry. Not about anything war related, just chatter about her life, and even some tips she had from when her mother died, ways she slowly healed from her grief.

She didn’t receive any back from him, but she could See that he was receiving them, so she could cope with a lack of letters in return.

When her 5th year started, her and Harry suddenly spent more time together.

  
“Can I… ask you something?” Harry said one day when they were in a quiet corner of the library together.

“You just did,” Luna said. “But you can ask me more questions if you want.”

“Do you actually believe in all that stuff? Crumplehorned Snorcacks, and Nargles, and so on? I mean, uh, I don’t mean to be rude, but—”

“No, it’s okay.” Luna said, her normally far away eyes, focused intently on Harry. She didn’t want to lie to her friend. Friends should tell each other the truth. “I don’t. It, well, it’s a way to make everyone stop paying attention to me. And if people think that I’m lying when I’m telling the truth, then I might as well use that to my advantage.”

“What do you mean, that people think you’re lying when you tell the truth?” Harry said, his gaze intense.

“People call me ‘Loony’. It didn’t start with my creatures, it started as soon as I got here and tried to tell people what I knew, but no one believed me. So, now I protect myself so that when people call me a liar it doesn’t hurt as much. I don’t think they’re bad for doing it, I know it’s not their fault. It just still hurts.” Luna said, and Harry narrowed his eyes.

“If anyone calls you that, tell me and I’ll hex them.”

“Oh.” Luna’s heart skipped a beat. “Thank you.”

Well, fuck. She had a crush on Harry Potter. At least she could commiserate with Ginny about it, though the other girl had told Luna that she had gotten over her crush when she had seen Harry standing over her, covered in grime and dirt, with a bewildered expression on his face.

At least Harry had never not believed, and shot down her Sight before, if only because she had never thought she’d be able to bear him doing so and hence never told him anything she Saw. Come to think of it, her subconscious might have known she had a crush on him for a lot longer than her conscious mind had known.

Later that night, when she was in her bed and all alone with silencing charms around her bed’s curtains, she took a deep breath, and braved using her Sight to view the future. The thing she was looking for was the future of her crush. She didn’t have any faith that it would progress into a relationship with Harry, as why would he ever want to be the boyfriend of Loony Lovegood? But perhaps she could see whether her crush faded eventually, and Harry would be happy with someone else. Who wasn’t seen as crazy.

Instead of seeing that though, she saw nothing at all. Once more, Luna’s Sight failed her, and she couldn’t tell anything about that String of the Universe. 

She would just have to live through it. Well, no one should know everything, she supposed. Or could.

  
As that year went on, Harry went back to spending as much time with Hermione and Ron as he had in previous years, but still made time for Luna. Which really did not help her crush.

At least she was able to function like a normal human around him, even if she pretended to be a lot more distant than she was.

Several times, Harry had caught her looking at Strings, and had gotten worried when she didn’t respond, but he had gotten used to an unresponsive Luna, and had even compared notes with Ginny on ways to snap her back to real life if it was necessary, Ginny had revealed.

Glad that at least she had friends who cared, if they couldn’t understand, Luna was thriving. Never before had she had friends, real friends!

Then came the beginning of the end. 

Dumbledore. Dead. At Severus Snape’s hand. 

Luna could see the events that lead up to the death of the Headmaster of Hogwarts, knew that Snape was simply doing as he had been told to do by Dumbledore, could see that Snape was a spy for the Light, but she could tell no one. 

She tried once to tell Ginny, but was harshly shut down.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Luna. He’s a murderer! He was pretending the whole time to be on our side.”

When Luna tried to say that pretending is what spies do, Ginny walked away from her. Which hurt. A lot. 

That evening saw Luna hiding in a corner of the library, where she wasn’t disturbed until Harry came into the library, and over to where Luna was sitting.

“Oh, hello Harry,” Luna said, sniffling. “What brings you to the library today? I see you’ve got quite a big infestation of Wrackspurts.”

“Padma told Hermione who told me that you and Ginny had a fight and that you were here. Are you okay?” Harry said, but he seemed uncomfortable as he said it.

“Oh.” Luna sniffled again. “I knew I shouldn’t have said it. I knew it wouldn’t end well.”

“Said what?”

“I can’t tell you!” Luna said, her voice cracking.

“Luna, is someone making you keep something secret? Are they threatening you?” Harry’s voice was serious, his shoulders tensed for her answer.

“No! It’s just… You’ll think I’m lying, and I don’t want you to think of me as a liar, as Loony.” Tears were running down Luna’s cheeks.

“I promise I won’t think you’re lying, Luna.”

“You will though! You’ll say that I’m lying and then you won’t be my friend anymore!”

“I won’t, I swear.” He looked so earnest that she actually began to hope that he would be the exception to her curse. “I would never stop being your friend, Luna.”

“You have to pinky promise that you won’t stop being my friend before I tell you,” Luna said, and Harry looked bemused despite the situation. “Pinky promises have special magic.”

Harry held out his pinky, and Luna did the same and they hooked them together.

Luna took a deep breath, and began to talk.

“I can see what I call the Strings of Time. So I can see what has happened and what will happen. Some things I can’t see because they’re not certain yet, and some things are easier to see than others.” She said, staring at the table they were sitting at, to avoid eye contact with Harry, avoiding his inevitable bad reaction. As she kept speaking, she sped up and blurted it all out, her words linking together in a smooth yet also hurried manner. “And I looked into the past and saw that, well, Professor Snape is a spy, but he’s spying on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, not on the Light. And that Dumbledore asked him to kill him because he was dying anyway, and I can’t see the outcome of the war or if we win, but I thought that maybe if I told Ginny and she believed me that she could tell you and then, I don’t know, we would be able to use the information for something!

“But then Ginny didn’t believe me because of the curse, so now she won’t be my friend and she called me a liar and now you’re not going to believe me, and you’ll stop being my friend, and I won’t know what to do!”

“Curse? You’re cursed?” Harry said.

“Have you heard of Cassandra, the Ancient Greek oracle of Apollo? She was cursed so that no one would believe her prophecies. I have the same curse on me. No one ever believes anything I See.”

“You said you can see the past too?” Harry asked, and Luna nodded. “Could you see… where my childhood bedroom was?”

Luna was so relieved that he hadn’t already yelled at her and stomped away, that she immediately searched the Strings, without warning Harry that she would be unresponsive for a short while, while she looked.

She searched through the Strings, focusing on Harry and his childhood. He hadn’t given her a time frame which made it slightly harder, but she decided to go with 10 years old and work her way from there if that wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

When she Saw the answer to his question, she wanted to go punch her friend’s family members. She Saw a brief flash while searching of a man yelling at Harry, and pushing him into a cupboard, with a piece of paper taped on the inside, saying ‘Harry’s Room’ in a child’s handwriting. She took a brief moment to look around the cupboard and memorise a few details so that she could prove that she hadn’t just heard the information second hand from someone who hadn’t seen it.

She came back to herself, and saw Harry looking at her with a fond expression on her face, despite the seriousness of what they’d been discussing, and she wondered why he was looking at her like that.

When he noticed that she was back, his face blanked and went back to a concerned expression, ready to hear her answer.

“They made you sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. On the inside of the door there was a piece of paper with ‘Harry’s Room’ written on it.” She said, her voice gentle.

Harry sat back in his seat in disbelief. At least after the last year’s adventure, he was slightly more open to the idea of prophecies and general future telling, but what Luna was saying was still hard to believe. Still, how else would she have known that? No one in Hogwarts knew about his cupboard, he hadn’t even told Hermione and Ron. And even if someone had somehow found out, the detail about the sign he’d made when he was a child all but proved that she had Seen it somehow. 

Harry quizzed her on a few more things only he would know, and each time she came back with exactly the right answer.

He was left with no choice but to believe her. She was either Seeing things, or reading his mind, and he had made sure not to make eye contact with her when he asked each question, as by then, he was very familiar with Legilimency and the eye contact that was necessary for it.

“I believe you,” Harry said.

Luna just stared at him for a few long moments.

“You’re not just saying that? You truly believe me?”

“Yeah, I do believe you. I don’t see any other way you could know those things.” Harry said, then leaned forward. “And I’m going to help break the curse on you. I don’t care if I fail my exams, I’ll find a way.”

“Oh no, please don’t fail your exams because of me, it’s not an urgent problem. I’m okay, really.”

“Pinky promise that you’re okay?” Harry said, a lopsided smile making its way across his face.

“I will pinky promise that. Now that you believe me, that’s all I need.” Luna said, and they proceeded to hook pinky fingers.

“And if you aren’t okay anymore, please tell me. I’m here for you, Luna.” Harry said, his eyes locked onto hers.

“Thank you, Harry, I’m here for you as well. What else are friends for?”

“Are we friends, Luna?”

“Wh-what? Are we not?!” 

“No! Wait, I didn’t mean it like that! I meant, are we only friends?”

“I’m not sure what you mean, Harry, I’m sorry.”

“Ugh, I’m messing this up. Fuck it.” Harry said. “Can I kiss you, Luna?”

Luna didn’t say anything in response, but instead leaned in to kiss him.

The kiss was sweet and soft, and Luna felt her breath being drawn from her lungs.

When it was over, in what felt like much too short of a time, Luna opened her eyes to see Harry looking at her with that same fond expression she’d seen earlier. 

Luna couldn’t help but blush, her cheeks heating up.

Harry lightly touched his fingers to her cheek, and smiled.

“I can’t believe I made Luna Lovegood blush,” He said.

“You’re not special, I blush a lot,” Luna automatically fired back, before her brain kicked back in after the kiss and she blushed harder. “I mean— uh. You are. You know. Special. To me.”

“You’re special to me too, Luna.”

They smiled dopily at each other for a few moments, before Harry spoke.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next year, it would be safer if we didn’t tell too many people about this, so that you’re not targeted because of me. If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“You’d do anything to get me back, of course.”

“Well, yes, but how did you know?”

“I’d do the same for you.”

“My Luna,” Harry said, a soft smile lighting up his face, and drew her into another kiss.

“Would you look at that, your infestation of Lumpy Loblollies is gone,” Luna said, a few minutes later when they drew back. (She really liked kissing, she had quickly discovered.)

“Who would have thought. What do those ones do again?”

“Who cares?” Luna said, and kissed him again.

They leapt apart when they heard footsteps heading their way, and sure enough, Madam Pince came around a corner, and looked suspiciously at the two of them, before apparently deciding that they were okay, and she continued on her way.

The two teenagers looked at each other and grinned, the adrenaline of almost being caught causing a strange reaction.

“I should—”

“We should—”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“Will you sit with me on the train tomorrow?” Harry asked, blurted out all of a sudden.

“You’re the loony one if you think you even have to ask.”

“Do you think we can squeeze everyone in together?”

“I think we can make it work,” Luna said, meaning more than just the answer to his question. 

“I agree.” Harry said, as if he knew what she meant. 

  
The next time they were able to see each other after the train ride back to London, was Bill and Fleur’s wedding.

“Oh, hello, Harry,” Luna said, floating up to him, and Harry’s eyes lit up.

“How could you tell?” Harry said, hyper-aware that he wasn’t wearing his own face.

“I could See it was you,” Luna said, a subtle emphasis put on the third word, and Harry nodded in understanding. “Also, your expression is very Harry-like, you’re unmistakable.”

“Let’s hope no one else can tell.” Harry said. “Luna, would you do the honour of dancing with me?”

“I would love to, not-Harry.”

Luna held back in her strange dances, and instead, the two had a quiet dance in their small corner of the dancing area, Luna’s head resting gently on Harry’s shoulder. 

  
The next time they had a moment to themselves, was after the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry sought Luna out, while she was sitting next to the Black Lake.

“Got a moment?” Harry said.

“I have many moments,” Luna said.

“Got a moment that I can take up, then?”

“I have many moments that you can take up, Harry.”

“Excellent,” Harry said. “I wanted to say something. To you.”

“I’m listening, Harry, I promise.”

“I love you,” He blurted out.

Luna’s world shifted. At first she thought it was simply the declaration shocking her, but then she realised she was suddenly lying on the ground.

Harry was kneeling next to her, his hand on her arm, shaking it, and calling her name.

“Luna? Can you hear me?”

Groaning, Luna tried to sit up, but felt all her muscles protest.

“Oh thank, Merlin,” Harry said, pulling out his wand. “How do you feel? Where does it hurt?”

“I’m fine, I just— Oh Fuck.” Luna said, realising what had happened, all her senses screaming the answer at her and giving in to the urge to swear.

“You broke it.”

“Broke what?” Harry said.

“My curse. My Cassandra curse. It’s gone. You did it. You did it! You saved me!” Luna said, and couldn’t help but grin.

“By saying that I love you? Just like that?”

“No one has said it to me since I started seeing the threads!” Luna said, excited, not seeing Harry’s brow furrow. He would be having Words with Xenophilius Lovegood.

“It’s great that it’s broken,” Harry said, truly happy for her.

“Oh, and I love you too,” Luna said, picking herself up.

“You… what?”

“I was waiting for you to say it first. It seemed like you needed to work through your feelings on your own. But, Harry Potter, I love you.”

Harry looked at the woman he loved, the woman who’d lived with a curse on her for years, and came out stronger for it.

“Let’s go test out your Sight on some unsuspecting student, shall we?” Harry said, and grasped Luna’s hand.

“I’d rather sit here with you for a bit longer, is that okay?”

“More than.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here ya'll go! Lemme know what you think!


	3. The Pasts We Bear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Street Urchin AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWs for Chapter 3- The Pasts We Bear:  
> \- Homelessness  
> \- Child abuse mentions  
> \- Car crash mentions

Harry was not used to having a roof over his head, regular access to food, and an almost guarantee of safety. Before going to Hogwarts, he’d had none of those things. 

He had been 7 years old when the Dursleys dropped him off on the streets of London, far away from them, and told him to never come back. He’d had an incident with accidental magic that day, apparently the last one they could ignore. 

So began his life on the streets of London. He learnt how to survive by watching others, the occasional older kid taking pity on him and showing him easier ways to do things, but never willing to take him completely under their wing, after all, everyone on the streets had to look out for themselves first and foremost.

He was 9 years old when he met the person who was destined to become his best friend. Luna Lovegood.

She had been exploring with her father, looking for City Nargles, when the man had been hit by an automobile, leaving Luna all alone in London, with no way to get back to her home. Her mother had died a few months before, meaning there was no one to look after her.

The two young children had found each other, seemingly by magic. Two magicians drawn together by fate, they would later say. By necessity. 

Harry had grown from a brash young boy, into a quiet, watchful, suspicious youth, the life he lead forging him in flames. Luna had grown from a dreamy, unconcerned young girl, into a hard-eyed, leery child, who held onto the magical creatures she believed in with an iron grip.

Luna hadn’t known how to get into Diagon Alley from the Muggle side, so they had been stranded without any access to the Magical world, only Luna’s basic knowledge getting them by, and trial and error in learning how to harness their magic.

By the age of 10, they both knew how to freeze people for a short amount of time, giving them time to run. They could also levitate and move small objects fairly easily. Neither of them realised how rare it was for them to be able to do any wandless and wordless magic at that age, both of them buoyed on with the determination and boundless limits so typical of young children. 

Their lives changed when Harry received his Hogwarts letter. Luna had told him all about Hogwarts and the magical world that neither of them could access, after he had had a accidental magic surge, knocking out a man who had been attacking him and Luna with a knife. So, he was quite knowledgeable about magic and all that it entailed, also believing in Luna’s creatures, which he had been informed most witches and wizards were too close minded to see or believe in.

The letter had come by owl, as was customary.

_‘Harry Potter_   
_The alley_   
_Cnr of Wellington St and James St_   
_London’_

Harry had known it was coming, and Luna and he had talked extensively about what to do next.

Using a pen they’d picked up from the library, he turned the letter over, and began to write. His handwriting was better than Luna’s with a pen, his limited years of schooling serving him well enough.

_‘To whoever gets this letter,_

_I will accept the offer to attend Hogwarts with a few things I ask for in return._

_Could a representative please meet me on the 31 of July outside the London Square Public Library at 1pm. If this is not possible, please send a letter to the same library, care of Harry Potter._

_Thank you,_   
_Harry Potter.’_

Now all they had to do was to wait.

  
A week later found the two children waiting outside the library, as they had not received a letter saying that no one was coming. 

At 1pm exactly, not a moment earlier or later according to Big Ben, a tall man in robes walked briskly up to the library. He had long black hair, and a scowl etched on his face.

The man seemed to spot Harry, able to identify his face somehow, and beelined towards where Harry and Luna were standing.

“I am Professor Severus Snape of Hogwarts. You are Harry Potter, I assume?”

“Yes, sir. And this is Luna Lovegood.” Harry said, and Luna bobbed her head.

Harry wondered what the man saw when he looked at the two children. Harry knew they were both desperately underweight, their cheeks hollow, their hair tangled and dirty, and their clothes grimy and holey.

“Follow me to a place where muggles will not overhear us.” Snape said, with a sneer, and walked away without checking if they were following.

They indeed did however, and soon the man lead the way inside the library to a free table. He went to pull out his wand, and paused as both Luna and Harry tensed as his hand reached towards his pocket. They knew the danger that could be done with a wand, Harry only secondhand from Luna, but the stories he had heard had his shoulders tensing up all the same. 

“I am simply pulling out my wand, you foolish children. Calm yourselves.” Snape said, but his heart didn’t sound to Harry like it was truly in the admonishment.

Harry watched warily as Snape did just that, but forced his shoulders to relax. He felt Luna’s hand slip into his, and he squeezed it, Luna squeezing back.

“I will be asking more questions in a short moment, but first let us get your demands out of the way. What is it that you ask in exchange for your presence at Hogwarts?” Snape said, his sneer returning, and deepening on the word ‘demand’.

“Either Luna to either starts Hogwarts at the same time as me, or if that can’t happen, she is be given a place to stay for the next year with access to food and water and people who won’t hurt her.” Harry said, his gaze levelled at Snape, his eyes intense.

Beside him, Luna was sitting up straight in her chair, her eyes also firmly locked on Snape, the only sign of her anxiety being her hand trembling slightly in Harry’s.

Severus Snape sat back in his chair, uncertain of what to make of the scene in front of him.

When he had been told that he would be the one going to see the brat Harry Potter and find out what his demands were, he had been furious at Dumbledore. The gall of the brat! Demanding something from Hogwarts in exchange for his illustrious presence! 

Though Snape had to admit the boy had stumbled into looking like he knew what he was doing. He could bargain for a lot for his place at Hogwarts. He held a lot of power of the staff in that situation.

Snape hadn’t known much about Potter’s upbringing, due to a mixture of not being told, not asking, and simply not caring. Undoubtedly the boy was being spoiled somewhere, his every whim being catered to.

Yet finding an obviously mistreated homeless young boy, with a wisp of a young girl at his side had shattered his every illusion.

The Harry Potter he’d been faced with was not a hero. He was not a healthy boy. He was not a pampered boy. He was not a cared for boy. He was a neglected, abused, young child, who was homeless. How on earth the great Albus Dumbledore had let it get to that point, Snape had no idea. Perhaps he didn’t know, didn’t check in on the boy. Or perhaps, a quiet part of Snape’s mind whispered, he wanted it this way. He wanted the boy to view Hogwarts as a sanctuary, a safe space away from the hurt.

The demand that Potter had was fair, considering that Hogwarts would draw him away from his young companion. Snape vaguely recognised the girl’s name, as he had been familiar with her mother and father when they were all at Hogwarts together, and remembered the death of her mother, but didn’t know why she was homeless. He’d assumed that the remaining Lovegoods had hid away after the death of Pandora Lovegood, and hadn’t cared to look any further until the young Lovegood was due to come to Hogwarts, where he would be forced to deal with them.

“It is not possible to push Miss Lovegood up a year, as the charter does not allow for students beginning a year early, however a home can be arranged for her during your first year and subsequent holidays.” Snape said, then paused before speaking again. “While students cannot start a year early, there is nothing saying they cannot be pushed up a year if they should prove too advanced for the year they are in, party way through the school year.”

Snape watched as a the two children exchanged a look, wordless communication passing between them. It seemed as though they decided on something rather quickly, as they turned back to him with determination in their eyes.

“Thank you, Professor Snape,” Luna said, and Snape nodded.

“I will have to ask some unpleasant questions now. I need the complete truths from both of you, as much as you can tell me.” Snape said, and Harry and Luna both nodded their agreement. “How did the both of you come to be living on the streets?”

“My aunt and uncle kicked me out and said never to come back.” Harry said.

“Did they give you a reason?”

“My… magic. They always called me a freak for it and… didn’t like it whenever I used any.” Snape grimaced, thinking of his own childhood with a father who hated magic too.

“And you, Miss Lovegood?”

“Daddy and I were searching for City Nargles when a car hit him. I didn’t know how to get home, and then Harry found me and taught me how to survive.”

“How did you find each other?”

“Luna was in danger when I felt something pulling me to her. When I got to her, she had frozen one of them but there were two of them. I, uh, stopped him, and we ran for safety. When we got to safety Luna said she could see that I was magic too.” Snape got the impression that Potter had used less than legal means to subdue the second attacker, but considering they were both alive and mostly whole, he wouldn’t question them any further. At the very least, he would be able to claim plausible deniability. 

“How did you know, Miss Lovegood?”

“Only witches and wizards have Wrackspurt infestations, Muggles don’t have the core to sustain them.” Snape looked at Miss Lovegood for a second, switched his gaze to Potter who looked completely serious beside her, and resisted the urge to groan out loud.

Not only did Miss Lovegood believe in the creatures that her father had, (and why wouldn’t she, Snape thought, she’d had no one to teach her otherwise) but so did the Boy-Who-Lived. 

Great. Fab.

“Very well,” Snape ground out. “How long have you both been on the streets? Do you recall what age these events happened?”

“I was 7,” Harry said.

“It was my 8th birthday,” Luna said. “Daddy was surprising me with the trip.”

That meant that Harry Potter had been alone for 2 years before the two had found each other. And then the two had spent a further 2 years after that. For fuck’s sake, Dumbledore was going to be yelled at so much by McGonagall once the woman found out.

“Mr. Potter, when you said that your aunt and uncle ‘didn’t like’ you using magic. Did they physically hurt you?” Snape said, preparing himself for the answer. He hoped for a brief moment that the boy’s response would be no, hoped that Petunia Evans hadn’t stooped that low.

“My uncle had a special belt,” Harry said, his voice quiet but steady his eyes feeling like they were looking into Snape’s soul, passing through his Occlumency barriers.

Fuck this. Fuck all of this. Fuck the uncomfortable parallels to Snape’s own past, fuck the personal stake he had in this situation, fuck it all.

“I see.” Snape said. “I swear to you both that I will do my best to see you in safe homes.”

“Thank you, Professor,” Harry said.  
  
“Until a suitable home is able to be found for you both, you will be accommodated at The Leaky Cauldron, an inn in Diagon Alley at the expense of Hogwarts. Are either of you familiar with the place?” Snape said, and they both nodded, Miss Lovegood undoubtedly having explained everything she knew to the boy. “Very well, if you would follow me once more, we will go there now, unless you have belongings you need to collect elsewhere.”

“We keep everything on us, otherwise it would just be stolen,” Miss Lovegood spoke up, and Snape nodded and gestured for them to follow.

The two children trailed slightly behind him as they walked to the entrance to their destination. It wasn’t very far from where the library had been, and judging by the way that the two of them had reacted when he pulled out his wand, he didn’t think they would be comfortable with side-along apparation as he could have taken them anywhere. 

Once they got to the outside of the Leaky Cauldron, Snape paused and conjured a scarf.

“To cover your scar and hair,” He said to Potter. “I don’t know how much Miss Lovegood has told you, but you are rather well known in the Wizarding world.”

Potter took the scarf without a word and tied it over his hair and forehead in a messy but solid knot.

The three entered the Leaky Cauldron, and Potter looked around, wonder clear on his face as he saw a magic venue for the first time in his life. Still, his shoulders were tensed, and he looked ready to run at any sudden movement.

“I would like to rent a room for a week, breakfast, lunch, and dinner included, please, Tom. Hogwarts business.” Snape said, counting out enough money and then some. 

“Aye, Professor, you can have room 11,” Tom said, handing over a key with the number 11 branded into it. “Breakfast is from eight till ten, lunch from twelve to one thirty, and dinner from six to nine.”

Snape nodded at Tom, and handed the key to Potter.

“Come now, we have to buy your supplies.” He said.

“Sir, we don’t have any money to buy supplies with, though,” Potter said, and Snape was once again furious that circumstances had lead the last remaining Potter to think he had no money or no home or no one to care for him. Seriously, fuck this day, fuck this job.

“Your parents had quite a fortune, I assure you, Mr. Potter. You simply need to go to the bank to access it.” Snape hoped he was keeping the rage out of his voice, so that neither of the children would think it was because of them.

Potter looked bewildered as Snape lead them out of the Leaky Cauldron, through the hidden wall, and into Diagon Alley.

Though his first look at Diagon Alley was more than enough to snap him out of his bewilderment. The sight was normalised for Snape, but every time he showed it to Muggleborns for the first time, he was reminded of his own first time seeing it. It was especially apparent in Potter and Lovegood, their wonder almost eclipsed by suspicion, as if they were scared it was a lie or it was going to be taken away from them.

Severus Snape vowed to himself in that moment, that he would fight for these two children. He would fight for them to be place in a home that would love them, especially Harry, promising the boy silently that he wouldn’t be sent back to the same Dursleys who had driven him hours away and kicked him out and told him to never return.

He hoped these two children wouldn’t have to grow up in a world that didn’t offer them safety. He hoped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme know what you think! 
> 
> This chapter was originally 3.2k rather than 2.7k, but it was getting long and unwieldy and i didn't know where i was going with it, so this is where it ends now. A terrible ending, but the ending it has nonetheless!
> 
> Kudos appreciated, comments loved!


	4. The Stories We Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Modern AU, No magic, Schizophrenic Harry and Luna.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWs for Chapter 4- The Stories We Tell:  
> \- Discussions of delusions  
> \- Ableist language  
> \- Food
> 
> Okay, most schizophrenia stories are shit, but this one's okay and not horribly ableist, I promise. Source: I have schizophrenia.
> 
> Enjoy!

“So, let’s do a round. As usual, name, pronouns, how you’re feeling, and hmm, what’s a fun question? How about, if you were a dragon what would your hoard be?” The leader of the group said. Harry could never remember their name despite having been coming to the group for 9 months already, and every single week they introduced themself in the round.

Harry then listened as everyone went around the circle. 

This stupid fucking support group that he was all but forced to go to.

Yes, okay, he had delusions, and maybe he’d once punched someone, but that was a while ago, and he hadn’t punched anyone since, and in his defence, the person he’d punched had been making fun of him and calling him a ‘schizo freak’ and perhaps the use of the word ‘freak’ had reminded him of his awful aunt and uncle.

He’d gotten off with a warning, a note on his record, and his presence required at this ridiculous support group.

At least this week there was someone new, somewhere to focus his attention.

“Hello everyone, my name is Luna, I use she/her pronouns, I’m doing well, I’m searching for City Nargles but they are sneaky little things. I would hoard animals, but they could come and go as pleased,” A pretty blonde girl said, looking to be around Harry’s age of 17, plus or minus a year or two. As she spoke, her quicksilver eyes were focused on a point in the corner of the room, and she was cradling a cup of tea in her hands as though it would sustain her.

Harry’s eyes kept darting back to her even as he said his own piece.

“Harry, he/him, I’m fine, and I don’t know.”

“Anything is fine, Harry!” The leader said, their voice perky and grating when all Harry wanted to hear was Luna’s smooth tone again.

“Pokemon cards, then.”

“Great, thanks for that, Harry!”

Everyone else’s voices faded out for Harry, all except Luna. He could tell that the two of them were drawn together by fate. Maybe even the same sort of fate that prophesied that he was the Chosen One. 

Wait, shit, was that a delusion? Harry was briefly consumed with doubt over whether his brain was being stupid again. 

When he finally came to the conclusion that he was in fact having a delusion, he looked up and everyone was scattered around the room in little conversations in smaller groups.

As was the normal part of the group where everyone split up, basically a popularity race that Harry never won, always ending up with him alone in a corner until the leader came around and made small talk with him.

He saw that Luna was in a corner, sitting on the ground, her legs crossed, fluttering her fingers in the air, her lips moving silently.

Deliberately thinking ‘fuck it’, Harry walked over to her, and sat beside her.

After a few moments, she acknowledged him.

“Hello, it’s Harry, right?”

“Yup. Luna, right?” Even if he didn’t care for normal small talk usually, he’d talk about anything with her. 

“Yes, that certainly is my name.”

“It’s a very pretty name. Latin for ‘moon’ right?”

“My mother always called me her moon. She said names have a lot of magic in them so we should always name everything carefully,” Luna said, her eyes still focused on some far off point.

“I have no idea why my parents called me Harry.”

“And you can’t ask them now, right?”

“How did you know?” Harry said, totally willing to forgive stalking from this girl if that’s what it took for them to be friends.

“Your voice told me,” Luna said, and Harry accepted it, using to being around either people with psychology knowledge, who could tease meaning out of the smallest things he did or said, or people with hallucinations who straight up heard things others didn’t. He didn’t know which one she meant, but it didn’t really matter.

“So, did you come here by choice?” 

“Daddy said that if I came every week for 6 months he’d take me to find Whispies.”

“Where do Whispies live?”

“They like to live near lochs.”

“Scotland? I’ve never been.”

“I went once when I was younger, and saw a group of them. They were beautiful.”

“What do they look like?” Harry said, finding himself drawn further and further into the conversation as it kept going.

“Like little blue splashes of ink in water, except in the air. They like to follow around unicorns too sometimes.”

“Do unicorns live near lochs as well? Or are those Whispies just the strange ones?”

“Unicorns live in forests all over the world. Anywhere there’s sufficient space and the correct atmosphere, unicorns find their way. I don’t know what the other Whispies think about the unicorn followers, maybe they’re the black sheep of the Whispie kind,” Luna said, her eyes finally flitting over to look at Harry, a smile playing at her lips.

Harry grinned, his eyes shining. Luna looked away again after a moment.

“So what are you here for? You didn’t seem all that interested in the round.” Luna asked.

“I might have punched someone, and claimed insanity so that I wouldn’t get thrown in prison for assault.”

“Are you insane?”

“According to the people who supposedly know what they’re talking about? Yes. According to me? Depends on my level of insight.”

“Oh, everyone always tell me that I don’t have any of that.”

“Who cares what they think?” Harry said, then winced when a hand settled on his shoulder. The hand of the leader of the group.

“It’s okay that you think that, Harry, but those people are trying to help. Do you agree with Harry, Luna?”

“Mm, I do a bit. They don’t believe in Nargles, and people who don’t believe in Nargles are hard to trust.”

“Well, I hope I can convince you otherwise, Luna. I think most people don’t believe in ‘Nargles’, so that must be an awfully lonely way to live.”

“When you find the people who do believe, it makes all the difference in the world.” Luna said, her eyes meeting Harry’s once more.

“It seems like you two are getting on well,” The leader said, their hand finally leaving Harry’s shoulder. 

“Harry hasn’t called me ‘Loony’ yet, so of course I get along well with him.”

“Yeah, and Luna hasn’t called me a ‘schizo’ either, so go figure.”

“If anyone here calls either of you those things, then let me know, okay? That sort of language isn’t tolerated here when used against anyone.” The leader said, and Harry suddenly thought that maybe they were okay after all. Still unbearably chipper all the fucking time, but not out to hurt him at least, like he sometimes thought.

Luna smiled at the leader.

“If you need anything, Luna, either talk to me, or Harry here’s basically an expert, so feel free to talk to him as well.” Harry rather thought that next time they did a round and the leader introduced themself, Harry would pay attention and make sure to remember what their name was. 

“If I supposedly have hallucinations, what do you have?” Luna asked Harry when the leader had left.

Harry was glad for Luna’s boldness in asking. Some of the other people in the group may have felt it was rude, but Harry appreciated not walking quietly around the edges of their problems. 

“Delusions. Mostly that I was chosen by a prophecy as a baby to save the world, so delusions of grandeur, and also some persecutory ones, where I believe that people are trying to hurt or kill me.”

“That doesn’t sound very fun,” Luna said, her silver eyes now moving systematically over the room around them.

“It really isn’t.” Harry said. “Tell me about Nargles? They seem more interesting than my delusions.”

And so began a friendship.

3 months and 12 groups later, their friendship was firmly cemented. Every week the two gravitated towards each other, until the others in the group never tried to talk to just one of them. They were a package deal. Though they had yet to exchange numbers or social medias, or ever talk outside the group. Harry wasn’t sure when it was okay to ask, if it was at all.

Harry and Luna were sitting in their corner, where a couple of cushions had begun to make their way before the group. Harry thought that that was probably Jace’s doing, the group leader. They encouraged the friendship between Harry and Luna more than anyone else.

Near the very end of the session, Jace came over to Harry and Luna’s spot.

“Hey, Harry, you’re technically free to go after this group.” They said and Harry cocked an eyebrow.

“Your required times to come are over after this one. You’re a free man. I know you hate coming, right?” Jace said, a smirk playing across their face. Harry didn’t mind the teasing at all. Jace was very good at telling when their teasing would be welcome, or be seen as threatening, and they had known each other for a year by then.

“You know what? I think I might stick around.”

“Oh good,” Luna said. “If you had left then we never would have been able to go on a date.”

Harry choked on his own spit at that, while Jace just stood there and grinned, the prick.

“You… want to go on a date… with me?” Harry said.

“You are very good looking, Harry,” Luna said, a smile in her voice before she continued speaking, seriously this time. “Also, you’re one of the only people who’s never told me something’s not real.”

“Why would I ever do that? That’d be rude,” Harry said, his mouth moving automatically. “Uh, Luna, would you like to go on a date with me? This weekend?”

“That would be nice. How about a picnic? We might see some Dancing Plimpies, they like the free food.”

“Well, that’s adorable,” Jace said, clapping their hands lightly together. “I love bringing folks together in this group. And really, it was about time, let’s all be real.”

“I’ve never once been real in my life, Jace,” Harry said, but he was grinning.

Luna just agreed to go on a date with him. With him. A date. The two of them.

He couldn’t stop grinning. Even as the two of them exchanged numbers and when the group was over, and he went back to Sirius and Remus’ place. 

When asked what he was smiling about, Harry couldn’t help but blurt it out.

“That’s great, Prongslet,” Sirius said. “Now, after 3 months of you talking about this girl nonstop, are we finally allowed to meet her?”

Remus kicked Sirius in the ankle, but looked amused nonetheless. 

“We should bake something for your picnic,” Remus said. “It’d be sweet if you made her something by hand.”

“We have been meaning to try that new bread recipe, right? Nothing more romantic than bread, right, Moony?” Sirius said, a grin splitting his face, but a sort of relief in his eyes.

“I can ask her to meet me here, maybe? Then you can meet her before we go out.” Harry said. “Bread is a good idea. Maybe biscuits? She likes ginger. She always has the ginger tea at group. Or maybe something vanilla. It’s her favourite chapstick flavour, the other ones are all too strong. Cheesecake?”

Harry could have rambled on for a while, but luckily Remus stopped him before he kept going.

“We can manage a cheesecake and some bread,” Remus said. “Now go tidy your room, Prongslet.”

With a quick hug for his two remaining, safe family members, Harry went to go do just that.

After counting down the days until his and Luna’s picnic, the day was finally upon him.

He, Sirius, and Remus had baked a cheesecake and a loaf of bread the day before, and had found some other food to chuck into a picnic basket that had been dug out of a long forgotten corner of a closet, picnics not being a common Black-Lupin-Potter family experience, though Harry had caught the two older men looking longingly at the basket. Harry would have to set them up a picnic on their next anniversary which was coming up, and shove them out the door for it. He had come up with a whole plan where he told them both separately about the picnic, and told them not to tell the other because it was supposed to be a surprise. He reckoned he could make it until the day of without them finding out.

Regardless of his plans for his family, his date with Luna came quicker than he expected, yet somehow felt like an eternity before it occurred. 

Luna had agreed to come over to his place to meet his family before they went on their picnic, and Harry was counting down the minutes until she was due to arrive.

Of course, then he had to add 10 minutes to the estimate, as Luna was always late, being distracted by one thing or another. Usually something she’d seen. He didn’t mind, it was a cute quirk of hers.

Sure enough, 12 minutes after she was supposed to arrive, a knock sounded on their door.

Harry ran to the door, then paused at it for a second, smoothing down his hair in a futile effort to make it lay flat. He was sure he heard Sirius snickering behind him, but ignored his godfather.

Opening the door, Harry was greeted with the beautiful sight that was Luna. She truly lived up to her name, wearing a silver stained shirt, and her quicksilver eyes looking out from her luminescent face.

“You’re beautiful,” Harry blurted out, then blushed. “Uh… yeah. You are.”

“Thank you, Harry. I think you’re beautiful too,” She said. Harry was taking that as a definite compliment, he didn’t care about something as ridiculous as gender specific language. Especially not when it came from Luna.

“Oh, sorry, would you like to come in?” Harry said, suddenly remembering his manners.

Luna stepped inside, and Sirius bounded up to her.

“Hi, nice to meet the girl that Harry never shuts up about! I’m Sirius, Sirius Black, and this is my husband, Remus.” He said.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Black,” Luna said. “Did you know that you look remarkably like Stubby Boardman?”

“I have no idea who that is, I’m afraid. And, please, call me Sirius. Every time someone calls me Mr. Black, I look around for my father, god forbid he came alive again.”

“He was a singer who died not too long ago. I thought maybe you had faked your death and became an author, because of the Rotfang conspiracy lurking around every corner.” Luna said.

“Nope! Just plain old Sirius Black. Always have been, always will be, with any luck,” Sirius said, taking everything that Luna said in stride, well used to Harry saying strange things.

“As my ridiculous husband said, it’s lovely to meet you, Luna. Now, we’ve got a picnic basket packed, Harry mentioned you were bringing your own blanket?” Remus said, stepping forward.

“Oh yes, I made it myself, I finished it yesterday, just in time!” Luna said, and unfolded the bundle she held under her arm.

It unfolded into a patchwork blanket with a very clear lightning bolt sewn on in various textured yellow and gold swathes surrounded by various shades of blue fabrics.

Harry felt his heart skip a beat. The blanket must have taken hours upon hours of work of careful sewing, and many different fabrics. He could spot at least 10 distinct patterns and colours in the blue alone, not to mention the lightning bolt.

It was very clearly reminiscent of the scar that broke across Harry’s face. While his scar was a realistic looking lightning bolt, the one on the blanket was stylised into three simple lines.

“It’s incredible, Luna,” Harry managed to get out. “Are you ready to go?”

“Thank you, Harry, I’m very glad you like it. I’m very ready!” She said, and folded the blanket back up. 

“We. Um. Made bread and cheesecake.” Harry said. 

“Oh that’s perfect! I love both those things.”

“Hold on, youth, let’s get a picture before you go!” Sirius said, brandishing his phone.

Harry refused to ever be embarrassed by his amazing godfather who’d saved him from his aunt and uncle’s house and given him a home and safety and a loving family again.

The two teenagers posed for the picture, and heard the click of Sirius taking probably close to a hundred pictures. 

“Here we go then,” Harry said, and Luna smiled, grabbed his hand and dragged him out the door. 

“Bye Sirius, bye Remus, lovely to meet you both!” She yelled behind her.

  
When their date was over, and Harry had walked Luna back to the train station, and kissed her gently on the cheek, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

After seeing Luna off and waving at the train until he couldn’t see Luna any more, he took it out and saw he had a message from Sirius.

_‘My godson, all grown up! James and Lily would be so proud of you, Prongslet.’_

Attached was one of the pictures that Sirius had taken that afternoon.

Instead of an artificially posed picture, he’d caught Harry and Luna looking at each other, affection clear on their faces, a fond smile shared between the two of them, in a world of their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that was okay!
> 
> Love y'all!
> 
> Kudoses are appreciated, comments are loved!


	5. The Voices We Hear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Psychic bond AU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No TWs for this chapter.

_‘Oh, Lucy has a Wrackspurt infestation, that’s unfortunate,_ ’ came drifting into Harry’s head, the thought definitely not his own.

_‘Morning, Luna,_ ’ Harry thought.

_‘Good morning, Harry. How are you feeling today?’_ Luna thought back.

_‘Well enough, considering the next task is coming up and Hermione’s gone mad over it.’_

_‘How lucky you are to have a friend who cares so much about you.’_

_‘That is true. A good way to look at her madness.’_ Harry thought. _‘I think I’ll be doing more research about us today. Found a book I think could have some answers.’_

Whatever was happening to the two of them, had begun the night of the Yule Ball. Harry had asked Luna to it a while before, after Ginny had introduced the two of them, and on the night when they brushed hands, a jolt had gone through them both. Harry had passed it off as static electricity or something unimportant, but the next day they realised they hear each other’s thoughts.

That was a week and a half before, and Harry had been spending an inordinate amount of time in the Hogwarts library trying to discover what had happened.

He’d not told Hermione or Ron yet, despite the wealth of knowledge about the magical world that they held between them. He didn’t particularly know why he hadn’t mentioned it. He was just being a coward about it, he supposed, despite his Gryffindor status.

Hermione thought Harry had been knocked into shape by the first task, and had finally started doing his own research on the remaining ones. Ron just thought Harry wanted to get away from the whirlwind that was Hermione, and had started running interference when Hermione started in on Harry, distracting the girl with anything and everything, not limited to getting her started on ranting about Divination. 

Harry did love both his friends a lot. As Luna had commented, it was a blessing to have people who cared for him.

In the background of his mind, he felt Luna’s hummingbird thoughts jumping around, slightly distracting, but after a week he was able to mostly ignore them for now, unless she had a particularly strong thought or emotion.

She had mentioned that his mind was like a thunder storm in the back of her head, strong and heavy, but comforting in a way, with occasional strikes of lightning when something stronger came up for him.

“Oh, hi, Harry, are you going to the library again? I’ll come too!” Hermione said, leaping to her feet when he walked into the common room. “I want to look at the records of the Triwizard Tournament again, there might be more clues in the past ones for what’s coming up.”

“Sounds good,” Harry said, inwardly sighing that he’d have to use a spell to disguise the book he was reading again. 

_‘Or you could just tell them, Harry,’_ Luna thought at him.

_‘It feels… wrong. Almost like it should be between just us, though.’_

_‘You don’t have to, I just think you shouldn’t have to hide something like this from your friends.’_

_‘Yeah. It does feel like I’m lying to them.’_

Luna sent a wave of affection his way, and Harry sent one back. It had felt strange at first to receive emotion that wasn’t his, but he had gotten sued to it, and it felt pretty good, getting waves of positive emotions from a friend that he trusted.

“Hey, Hermione, can I talk to you about something?” Harry said, his mind made up, when the two friends were settled at Hermione’s favourite study table, out of the way near the history stacks, where not many students ventured.

“Of course, Harry,” Hermione said, setting down the book she’d opened.

“Uh… I’m not really sure where to start?”

“Is this about the next task?” Hermione asked. “Is it because I’m being too annoying? Ron told me I shouldn’t push you as much, but oh, it’s so important!”

“’Mione, ‘Mione, calm down. It’s not about the tournament, it’s something else.” Harry said, then took a deep breath, figuring out in his brain how to say it. “Do you remember how Luna and I went to the ball together?”

“Yes?” 

“When we… touched for the first time, something, uhhh, strange happened.” Harry said, and Hermione raised her eyebrows. “It was like… static electricity but in my brain, is the best way I can describe it.”

_‘It was like a rainbow in my soul,’_ Luna chimed in.

“Luna described it as a, and I quote ‘rainbow in her soul’.” Harry said, a smile playing at his lips.

“Was that all that happened? Maybe some form of resonating magic—” Hermione begun to trail off and mutter, frantically writing notes on a fresh sheet of paper.

“That wasn’t just it. Um. Luna and I can now. Read each other’s minds? Like a mind connection or something,” Harry said, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

Hermione froze for a few long moments.

“Like a psychic bond? That’s… I read about something called Legilimency in an old book, which is reading minds, but it didn’t mention anything about a bond. Hmm, maybe in the history section? Wizards don’t have psychology sections. Bonds maybe?” Once more, Hermione trailed off into muttering and writing.

_‘At least she believes me, I would have thought she’d want us to prove it.’_ Harry thought.

_‘I’m nearby, if you want me to come to the library so we can,_ ’ Luna thought back to him.

_‘Yes, please, that would be great.’_

While Hermione was off in her own world, scribbling notes and speaking to herself, Harry went and found the book he had spotted the other day and thought might be useful.

Like Hermione, he had explored mind reading, and had since moved onto bonds and connections.

He’d found a book titled ‘Bonds Between Us All: An Exploration of Magical Bonds’, which he thought could be a good place to look. Luna and Harry had come to the conclusion it was some kind of bond after Luna had identified something new leading to Harry when viewing her magical core. She’d then had to teach Harry how to view his core, as no one had ever taught him that, probably assuming that he knew despite growing up in the Muggle world entirely.

When Luna tugged on the strong leading from her magical core to his, Harry could feel it resonating inside his own core. It had been a weird feeling before he’d had an awareness of his core. 

They also both always could vaguely feel where the other was. Feeling the distance wax and wane when Luna went for a walk was distracting at first, but like the rest of it, he’d gotten used to it.

Flipping open the ‘Bonds Between Us All’, after sitting back down the his and Hermione’s table, where Hermione didn’t even look up, Harry first looked at the table of contents for any hints it might give.

‘Bonds Between Us All: An Exploration of Magical Bonds  
Contents

What is It? Introduction to bonds…………..1

What were they? Bonding History……..…..10  
How do they start? Bond Beginnings……..52  
Make them start! Bond Rituals……………….72

That’s awful: Dark Bonds………………………..91  
That’s lovely: Light Bonds……………………...104  
That’s alright: Neutral Bonds………………….122  
The Other Kind: Creature Bonds…………….153

The End: Conclusion……………………………….167  
You want more? Notes…………………………….189  
Even more? Further Information…………...199  
Just in case: Disclaimer…………………………..214’

Harry didn’t think their bond was Dark, it didn’t feel Dark to him. It felt nice. Luna’s busy mind was an interesting thing to experience, but he didn’t think he wanted to get rid of it. Just figure out what it was, and ways to work with it.

Luna chimed in saying that she agreed. It wasn’t a problem for her, and while she didn’t care about what it was or why it was there, she knew that Harry did care about that. 

Deciding the read from the start, he opened to the first page, and Harry read through the introduction. It talked about what bonds were, being a bond between two or more people’s souls, and could be formed for a variety of reasons or purposes.

It was interesting, but it was very general. Still, Harry read through it, taking notes in a notebook Hermione had gifted him a while ago, finally putting it to good use.

The introduction listed a couple of types of bonds, briefly mentioning the three categories of Dark, Light, and Neutral. Dark and Light were self-explanatory, but it explained that Neutral bonds were bonds that could be used for good or for evil, and were born out of neither Light nor Dark situations completely.

It also spoke about how some bonds could enhance the power levels and magical cores of the people in the bond.

Another short mention was made of bonds becoming active after periods of dormancy. The book didn’t mention active bonds could become inactive then reactivate, or whether once a bond was activated, it stayed that way. 

Finishing up the introduction, Harry started reading ‘What were they? Bonding History’. It spoke about bonds in myths and legends, claiming that Merlin and Arthur had a bond, but no one knew what kind. It mentioned bonds between some ancient kings and queens. The book even mentioned the possibility of there being a bond between the Founders of Hogwarts, though apparently there was no evidence of it, just possible circumstance that had transpired.

That intrigued Harry, as that meant there were bonds with more than two people in them. He wondered what it would like to have a psychic connection with 3 other people. Probably painful and quite difficult to deal with at first. You’d never get a moment of peace as long as you had the connection.

There were some other bonds mentioned between people Harry had never heard of. Presumably, they were old witches and wizards who Harry hadn’t learnt about in History of Magic, because Binns was useless and they weren’t Goblins.

It spoke about no one knowing where bonds came from for sure, but some theories being that Merlin had created them in a last ditch effort to make everyone get along, or the fey being the origin of them, implanting them into human souls for their own entertainment. Another was that ancient humans had longed for a connection with each other, and had petitioned the gods for a way to be closer, so the gods had answered with bonds, leaving it up to the humans to use them for either good or evil. Or perhaps, the book theorised, it was wild magic expressing itself, the strands of fate working on the souls of beings with magic, drawing them together in ways that were ordained at the beginning of the universe.

Harry’s personal favourite from the barrage of theories, was that Death had seen that these beings couldn’t live without each other in various ways, and had tied their souls together so they would never be alone. Harry didn’t know why it was Death doing the tying together, but he supposed who else was there to see about someone’s life.

As he diligently making notes on the options, his scribbled handwriting was spreading further through the notebook’s pages. (and wow, was Harry glad that Hermione had keyed the notebook so only he could open it. Anyone finding these notes would know a lot about Harry that he didn’t want anyone to find out without his say-so.)

After the history section came the ‘Bond Beginnings’ chapter, which mentioned briefly about how bonds could start. Some of the nicer possibilities were touch, sex, and eye contact, while there were some pretty horrible ones in there too.

Harry skipped over that section for the most part, as he knew how his had started already, with touch. Also, he wasn’t very interested in reading about how kneeling for someone could cause a bond to form.

The section on rituals Harry skipped completely. One bond was more than enough for him, thank you very much.

He decided to come back to the Dark bonds section as a last resort, if he truly couldn’t find their bond anywhere else. As he’d thought before, it didn’t feel Dark, and he didn’t exactly want to see some of the Dark bonds, based on what he’d already been reading.

Skimming through the Light bonds section didn’t reveal much. Sure, there were some interesting ones, like a bond with a Phoenix, or a Basilisk. (Apparently they were meant to be protectors? Which really just made his second year so much worse. And it was basically already at its limit for ‘worst’, so that was saying something.) But most of the rest of them sounded… well, not right at all. A bond created with someone you love where you both pledge to put each other first before anything or anyone else that meant if you violated the oath, you’d die a horrible painful? Not even close, and also why was that a Light bond?

The neutral section was slightly more promising. It spoke a little of bonds between lords and their servant, which also wasn’t right. It spoke of bonds between friends, but didn’t mention the mind reading being part of it. 

Harry was about to flip to ‘The End: Conclusion’, when he felt Luna’s thought dance in his head.

_‘Wait, Harry, stay on that page,’_ She thought. _‘What’s that, in the footnote?’_

Sure enough, there were footnotes in the book, that Harry hadn’t been reading but apparently Luna had been, through his eyes.

In black ink, printed on the page, were the words ‘Of all the bonds that have had the most impact on the world, the soulmate bond is one of the most unpredictable. Many have used it for good, while a number have used it for dark. Caused by touch, and forming a strong mind bond, it is up to the bonded to decide their own future.’

Harry sat back in his chair, stunned for a moment.

Soulmates? Him and Luna? Soulmates? She was certainly very pretty, and she was nice and sweet and thoughtful, but soulmates? They were so young!

In his head, Luna’s thoughts were very distracting as he read those few sentences. He could feel a range of emotions emanating from the part of his mind that her thoughts and feelings were in.

Guilt, insecurity, fear. All of her feelings were negative, and Harry was confused until he got a glimpse of her thoughts in his own mind.

_‘He’s going to hate me, why would he ever want to be bonded to me? To Loony Lovegood? He’ll find a way to undo it and then he won’t be my friend anymore-’_

‘Luna, Luna, wait. I’m not upset. If we’re soulmates, then we’re soulmates, and I can’t think of anyone I’d want to be my soulmate more than you. We may not have known each other for years and years, but it feels like we have. I don’t think you’re loony, and I like you for you.’ Harry didn’t know exactly how to reassure Luna, but he hoped he’d made an okay effort.

_‘Really?’_

_‘Really.’_

_‘You don’t want to get rid of our bond?”_

_‘No, I don’t. It’d be nice to learn some ways to manage it, so we’re not looking in on each other at every hour of the day, but I want to keep it.’_

Luna didn’t reply with anything, only sent him a wave of affection through the bond.

That was when Harry knew that they’d be okay. They could manage, cope, even thrive with their connection.

They’d be more than fine, they both had friends to support them.

They had each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for taking the time to read! Hope you enjoyed!


	6. The Histories We Share

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jewish Harry and Luna

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWs for this chapter: Child abuse, religion, antisemitism.
> 
> I'm converting to Judaism, and recognise that I am a goy, so if I've got anything wrong, please let me know!

Growing up, Harry learned to never mention the small different things that his aunt did in secret.

He had first noticed the necklace strung around her skinny neck, a sort of star shape, with two intersecting triangles. When a 6 year old Harry had asked what it was when it peeked out from beneath her clothes, he was snapped at harshly, and told that she wasn’t wearing a necklace at all, she had no idea what he was talking about.

Other things he noticed that whenever pork was on the table, whether that was before Harry started cooking, and his aunt cooked everything herself, she never ate any of it, always claiming she was on a diet. Dudley and Uncle Vernon never cared her reasoning as it meant more for them. It was their favourite meat after all.

On Friday nights, while Uncle Vernon and Dudley were watching their favourite tv show, Harry noticed Aunt Petunia sneak away and when he once sneaked into the kitchen to see what she was doing, he noticed her lighting two candles, with a hand over her eyes and words muttered silently to herself. 

Out of curiosity, Harry went to his school’s library and asked the librarian if she knew what the symbol he’d seen on his aunt’s necklace meant, a sketch of it handed over in his innocent hands.

When the librarian, a nice old lady, informed him that it was called a star of David and was a symbol that Jewish people used, Harry had only a vague idea of what ‘Jewish’ meant. It was a thing that he’d heard his uncle say a couple of times, never in a nice way. 

Next came the thought, why was his aunt wearing the symbol? Was she Jewish? What even was ‘Jewish’?

Determination clear on his face, Harry asked the teacher for any books she had on ‘Jewish’. In no time at all, Harry was settled in a corner of the library, a stack of books in front of him.

Soon, his mind was filled with all things Jewish. The history, the customs, words of Hebrew.

When his curiosity overtook his school’s library, he ventured to the Little Whinging library for more.

The library had a few more books on the subject, and Harry consumed them at a rate which he would look back on and think was alarming.

After learning everything the libraries had to offer, he decided to take a leap. One day after school, when he was 10, Harry ventured to the small synagogue, Temple Sinai, the only one that Little Whinging had to offer.

The librarian at the Little Whinging Library had said that the synagogue was only open during services, but could be contacted by phone at other times. Harry had asked the very nice librarian, who was looking slightly bemused at this point, if he could use the library’s phone to call the synagogue. She had said yes, and soon Harry was on the phone with a person from the synagogue.

“Hello, my name is Harry Potter, and I would like to come to a service please.” 

“Hello, Harry. We’d love to have you! How old are you, may I ask?”

“I’m 10. I know I might be too young, but my aunt and uncle would go crazy if they found out.”

“Um.” The person on the other end of the phone said. “Well, how about this, Harry. You can come along this Saturday morning for our Shabbat service, and then after it we can talk about your future attendance then. Does that sound okay?”

“That’s great, thank you!” 

Harry by this point, had come to the conclusion through everything he had learnt, that he was Jewish too.

After all, if his aunt was, then his mother must have been, and you were Jewish if your mother was, then it stood to reason that Harry was too. 

And if Harry was Jewish, he wanted to know what that meant. He wanted to know what it had meant to his mother. 

So, that Saturday, Harry had escaped the Dursley’s at 10am, and walked to the address that he’d gotten directions for from the librarian.

The small building was small and unassuming, until you noticed (and it was hard no to) the large mechanical gate on it. There was a wall with painted murals depicting various Jewish symbols and items. 

Walking up to it, Harry noticed a man get to his feet and walk over to the gate.

“You’d be Harry?” The man asked.

“Yes, sir.” Harry said, suddenly very nervous, but still not willing to give up the connection he had found with his mother.

“Come on in,” And with that, the gate slowly opened.

To Harry, it seemed like magic.

What followed definitely felt like magic.

Something about the entire service spoke to him. 

He’d done some research on Hebrew at the library, but still he stumbled over the pronunciation of the words slightly in the prayers and songs. Regardless, no one laughed at him, or made fun of him, or made him sit away from everyone else like his teachers at school did so that he wouldn’t cheat.

The rhythms of the songs were pretty, and easy to catch onto. His favourite song was ‘Sim Shalom’, where a particularly boisterous older woman enthusiastically sung the round robin part.

After the service, there was a kiddish, where there were blessings said over wine and grape juice, and bread. Next was a light lunch spread, where everyone mingled, and Harry got to meet a few more people. His favourite person to meet was the enthusiastic woman who had sung the round of Sim Shalom. Her name was Mona, she was from the Caribbean, and she gave the best hugs, leaving Harry stunned and breathless for a few moments afterwards. After that, Harry asked where the kitchen was, and set to helping the adults with the washing of the cups and plates. He noticed a few amused looks being sent his way, but didn’t understand where they were coming from.

When about half the dishes were done, a woman popped her head into the kitchen, noticed Harry, and walked over.

“Hey, Harry, right?” She said.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“No need to call me ‘ma’am’, Harry. I’m Jo-Ellen, we talked on the phone.”

“Oh, hello, uh, Jo-Ellen.” Harry said. “Thank you for letting me come, it was really nice.”

“It was our pleasure to have you, Harry. Now would you mind following me to the library, where we can have some privacy, and a chat!”

Harry nodded, and followed the woman into the library which he hadn’t known was there. It was a medium sized room, but the walls were covered from floor to ceiling in bookcases filled with books. Harry peered at a few titles and saw some interesting sounding books, a few being ‘Big Book of Jewish Humour’, ‘Questions Jews Ask’, and ‘The Jewish Catalog’.

Sitting down in one of the comfy chairs that were encircling a table, Harry turned to nervously face Jo-Ellen.

“First off, Harry, I just want to tell you a little bit about myself, so we can learn about each other!” Jo-Ellen said. “So, as I said, my name’s Jo-Ellen, I’m the Rabbi here at Temple Sinai, and have been for 10 years. We’re small, but everyone here supports each other and helps each other out. I was born in London, but my partner got a job here in Little Whinging, so we moved out here together, and well, here I am! That was 15 years ago, making me super old, right? I converted to Judaism when I was in my 20s, and everyone here has been super great about it, no one is made to feel unwelcome at Temple Sinai. Do you know about converting? You do? That’s very impressive! I studied to be then became a Rabbi in my 40’s, a short while before moving here. Now, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

“Um. Okay. My name’s Harry Potter and I’m 10 years old, and I live with my aunt and uncle because my parents died in a car crash when I was a baby. My aunt is Jewish, she doesn’t talk about it at all and would be mad if I asked, but I think that means I’m Jewish too, because she’s my mum’s sister.”

“I see,” Jo-Ellen said. “Harry, do your aunt and uncle know that you’re here today?”

“No,” Harry said, looking down at his lap. “Uncle Vernon doesn’t say very nice things about Jewish people, and my aunt yelled at me when I asked what her necklace was.”

“You’re a very brave young boy to come all alone to a new place that your family wouldn’t approve of, Harry.” Jo-Ellen said. “Now, perhaps we can discover if your mother was Jewish together, how does that sound?”

Harry nodded, but then his eyebrows furrowed.

“How do we do that though?”

“Oh, there are a few ways. Do you know if your aunt grew up around here?” Jo-Ellen asked.

“I’m not sure. My aunt and uncle don’t really like it when I ask questions,” Harry said, once more looking down at his lap, and fidgeting.

“That doesn’t sound very nice of them. Are they mean to you in other ways, Harry?” 

“No.” Harry said, firmly, well aware of what would happen if he tried to get his aunt and uncle in trouble. Someone would find out, then like magic, they’d forget all about it the next day, as though they’d never found out. “They just do some strange things.”

“Well… okay then.” Jo-Ellen didn’t look completely convinced at his defence of his family. “If they are mean to you, you just let me know, and I’ll see what I can do, okay, Harry?”

“Okay,” Harry agreed, secretly crossing his fingers beneath the table.

“We can try looking up your mother’s name on the computer, we might be able to find something about her on there!” Jo-Ellen said, apparently deciding to move on from the topic.

“I’ve never used a computer before,” Harry said, worried that his lack of knowledge might be a problem.

“That’s okay, Harry! I’m pretty good with them, so that won’t be a problem. The library has one we can use if we ask nicely. You’re a lot cuter than I am, so how about asking can be your job?”

Harry giggled, and nodded.

Soon, the two were headed to the library, Jo-Ellen making idle chatter on the walk there, asking him about school, and his favourite subjects, and what he was learning currently.

Before long, they were at the library, and sitting at the desk was the same librarian that had let Harry borrow the library phone to call Jo-Ellen before.

“Oh, hi again, Harry! I see you’ve met Jo-Ellen! Isn’t she fabulous? She’s secretly one of my favourite people, but don’t tell anyone, Harry! What can I do for you two?” The librarian said.

“Um, we were wondering if we could use the computer, please?” Harry asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth.

“My two favourite people? Of course you can! Come on then,” The librarian said, and Harry and Jo-Ellen followed her to a room towards the back of the library, where she unlocked it with a key, ushering the two of them inside.

“Thank you, Jem,” Jo-Ellen said, giving the librarian a fond look.

“My pleasure! Now you two have fun!” Jem said.

“Righty-ho, Harry! Come sit here next to me,” Jo-Ellen said, sitting down and pulling a chair over for Harry as well.

When they got settled, and searched for ‘Lily Potter’, there weren’t any results that looked right or relevant, before Harry suddenly remembered when he had been cleaning out the attic on his aunt’s orders, an old textbook that said ‘Petunia Evans’ in it. 

They searched ‘Lily Evans Potter’ and a small newspaper article popped up, telling them about the marriage of Lily Jane Evans (30/01/60) to James Henry Potter (27/03/60) in 1979, in a newspaper for a place called Cokeworth. It mentioned that the marriage was 3 months after the death of Malcom Evans, the father of the bride.

Jo-Ellen said that this was good news, because now they had a full name, a date of birth, and a potential birthplace. 

Next they searched ‘Lily Evans Potter 30/01/60’ and found a birth announcement in the same newspaper which Jo-Ellen said was pretty lucky as it was rare that it had been digitised. She also said, they must have had a pretty cool librarian as well.

‘Malcom and Jane Evans of Cokeworth, England, are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Lily Jane Evans (Hebrew name Shoshanna Miriam). She was born 30th January at Cokeworth Hospital. She weight 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and was 21 inches long.  
She was greeted at home by her slightly bigger sister, Petunia, age 1.  
Malcom and Jane would like to say they thank everyone for their well wishes, and accept all the babysitting offers for the foreseeable future.’

“Well, there we are,” Jo-Ellen said. “Shoshanna Miriam. Do you know what those names mean?”

Harry shook his head no.

“Well, most people think that ‘Shoshanna’ only means ‘rose’, but it can also mean ‘lily’. And Miriam means ‘rising water’, and was the sister of Moses, who lead the Israelite women in a dance after they had escaped from Egypt. They’re beautiful names, for what I’m sure was a beautiful woman. Oh, Harry dear, come here.”

Harry didn’t realise until that moment that he was crying, hot tears running down his cheeks. His mother. His mother. Shoshanna Miriam. Lily Jane Evans. 

Suddenly, Harry was glad for being in the back room of the library, with only one person around. 

Jo-Ellen let him cry into her shoulder for a few minutes, before he pulled away, all ready to apologise.

“You don’t need to apologise, Harry. Crying is normal and natural, and it’s a good way to release your emotions when they’re all happening at once.”

“Does this… does this mean that I can keep coming?” Harry asked, and Jo-Ellen looked pained.

“Oh, sweetie. I’d love for you to keep coming, but unfortunately, you’re too young to come without one of your guardians giving permission. If we convince your aunt, and she says that it’s okay for you to come, then of course, but without her approval, I’m going to have to say that you can’t keep coming until you’re a little bit older. I’m sorry, dear.” She said.

Harry wilted. He knew Aunt Petunia would never agree. 

“How old?” He said, his voice only trembling a slight amount, his only thought being the remaining hope of getting to an appropriate age.

“16, dear,” Jo-Ellen said, the corners of her eyes creased in concern, as though she could tell that the 10 year old boy in front of her was only just holding it together. “I’m very sorry. But maybe your aunt will surprise you! Why don’t you ask her?”

He knew the answer would be ‘no’, and didn’t even let himself hope that it would be a positive response. Still, he agreed to ask her that day.

  
“Aunt Petunia,” Harry said, that evening, when Uncle Vernon and Dudley were in the lounge room watching TV while the two of them were in the kitchen. Harry was cleaning the dishes from dinner, and Aunt Petunia was pottering around.

“What is it, boy?” She said, and Harry was exponentially more nervous.

His hopes weren’t high, he didn’t want to do that to himself, but her reaction to the question could still be awful.

“Can I go to the Temple?” His words came out in a rush, all jumping over each other to get off his tongue.

“What? Speak clearer, boy.”

“Can I go the Temple Sinai for services?” He said, making sure to make his words clearer this time.

Aunt Petunia looked like she was in shock.

“I know that we’re Jewish, and I—”

“How! Dare! You!” His aunt said, and rushed over and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Don’t you ever say that again! Not in this house, not anywhere! Do you hear me?”

“I don’t—”

“I said, do you hear me? I don’t know how you found out that rubbish, but I won’t have it repeated in my house!” She shook him harshly. “Say that you understand, boy.”

“I understand, Aunt Petunia,” Harry said. 

“You’re lucky I don’t send your uncle after you, saying things like that,” Petunia said, but Harry knew she wouldn’t, because that would mean his uncle hearing about Judaism and their Jewishness and he knew that neither of them wanted that. “Hurry up with those dishes, then!”

And that was the end of that conversation.

  
Harry got back in contact with Jo-Ellen and told her the bad news. Jo-Ellen then told Harry that she’d be stopping by and having a conversation with his aunt. Harry didn’t try to stop her. He hadn’t known the rabbi for long, but could already tell that getting in her way when she wanted something would be a bad idea.

On the Monday when Harry returned home from school, his aunt pulled him aside and said that he was allowed to attend services at the Temple, as long as he did all his chores and never told his uncle about it.

He had no idea how Jo-Ellen had convinced Aunt Petunia, but wasn’t going to complain when it got him what he wanted. Though the image of Jo-Ellen and his aunt sitting at their table, glaring at each other was pretty amusing.

Regardless, attending services, learning more about his heritage, Harry began to thrive.

He quickly became a regular at services, and a favourite. His enthusiasm in singing began to rival Mona’s, and his insistence in always helping with dishes was welcomed.

Most of the other attendees of the Temple’s Shabbat services were older people, and Harry was welcomed into their ranks, and even jokingly referred to as their grandson, until it truly felt like he had gained a gaggle of grandparents to replace his own lack of.

Then of course, came the Hogwarts letter. In every life, Harry would receive this letter. The difference was in this one, that he already had a home.

Regardless, he had to go to Hogwarts. To do otherwise would be to laugh in the face of destiny.

The first thing he asked Hagrid was whether wizards could be Jewish too.

The half-giant had smiled and told Harry not to worry and that there was a group of young Jewish witches and wizards who met every Friday and on Jewish holidays to celebrate together while attending Hogwarts. 

Harry asked Hagrid if his mother had attended the group, and found out that she had. That further cemented his wish to join this group. 

When Harry got to Hogwarts, he discovered that the Jewish Hogwarts community wasn’t large, but it was welcoming, and he didn’t have to answer any horrible questions about his parent’s deaths or any other traumatising events in his life while he was there.

Every Friday evening, the Jewish students of Hogwarts lit Shabbat candles, said the blessings over wine and bread, and got to know each other. Every Saturday morning, the Jewish 7th year students ran a service for the assembled students. It was a welcome familiarity in a world of new things.

Before long, Harry was welcomed into the community that had been built, in the quiet corners of the school.

They didn’t interact much outside of the group, many of them preferring to stay quiet, as antisemitism still existed in the Wizarding World, but when Shabbat and other holidays came around, they were together, and for a short time, that was enough.

  
At the start of Harry’s second year, before anything bad had the chance to happen, and while Harry was recovering from spending the summer with his relatives, a new face appeared at the Jewish students group.

Luna Lovegood, the new arrivals name was.

A small slip of a girl, hollow cheeks and faraway eyes, and words that everyone looked down upon, calling her ‘Loony’, all the while she skipped around the school.

Harry observed the girl at meals in the Great Hall, and noticed that soon a group of girls in her year began to bully her.

He was not okay with that.

Not knowing if she would be okay with him talking to her outside of the Jewish students group, Harry instead talked to her at the Shabbat events, and after the Shabbat services, and made sure everyone in the group was kind.

Luna seemed to come alive when the two talked. Her eyes would light up as he asked questions about her creatures, and her face was animated as she explained.

This was a Luna who hadn’t yet learned to accept the harshness of a world with no one at her back. This was a Luna who hadn’t learned to take the bullying with a smile. 

This Luna would never have to.

She had a friend in Harry Potter, and maybe that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Have a good rest of your day! :)


	7. The Futures We View

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seer Luna teaching Seer Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No TWs for this chapter.
> 
> Shorter one than the previous ones! Only about 1k words.

“You have a few Wrackspurts, so you have to learn to clear your mind first,” Luna said, in the mission to get Harry to learn.

“I’m so bad at that, you and Snape keep saying that, but I have no idea how to do that!” Harry said, his voice raised. He then took a breath. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be taking it out on you, I know you’re trying to help. I would just appreciate slightly more detailed instructions.”

“Close your eyes, Harry Potter. Picture a stream, the water is flowing at a steady pace. The water is clear, and you can see rocks on the bottom of it. You can hear it’s bubbling, water moving over rocks, rushing, racing to get further down, to wherever it’s trying to go. There are leaves from nearby trees falling gently in, then getting caught up in the race of it. Each of your thoughts is a leaf on the stream. You wouldn’t try to stop these leaves go by, would you? That would be ridiculous, no, you’d spend more time trying to stop them than if you just let them happen. Don’t try to stop those thoughts going through your head. Just notice them, acknowledge them, and let them go on their way down the stream. If they get stuck on a rock, you can stick your hand in the stream and give it a little push, let it go on it’s way, and wait for the next leaf.” Luna said. 

Luna had asked the same thing of her mother when she had been little, and learning for herself how to use her Divination magic powers. 

Luna’s mother had been more into spell creation and manipulation than Divination, but had learnt from her own mother how to hone the gift that most of the witches and wizards in their bloodline were born with. It was ancient wisdom that every parent in their lineage passed onto their children, either if the gift touched them, or so they could pass the knowledge onto their own children until the talent popped back up.

Harry had come onto her radar as having a gift in Divination when he’d kept having flashes of insight, and just Knew things. Word had spread within their small friend group, and Luna’s name had been raised by Neville, who mentioned that Luna was a Seer, and could maybe help Harry with his own emerging powers and talents in the mysterious art.

Quickly, Luna had realised that Harry was not in the right mindset for receiving any of the future at all. He was desperate to use his skill, but his emotions were clouding his view of what could happen.

And so, she sat him down in the Room of Requirement, the room set to a comfy space, filled with pillows and beanbags, and large windows letting the sun stream in, despite the physical impossibility.

Luna focused back on Harry, and noticed he was significantly calmer than he had been a few minutes before.

She could tell by the occasional flashes of movement on his face that the occasional thought stuck around for him, but a satisfied smile always followed, telling her that he had pushed it further down the stream.

After a few more minutes, she broke his concentration, and asked him how that had been.

“It was… it was good. It felt like a good way to shut my brain up for a little bit.” He said. “Well, not exactly shut it up, but just let it do it’s thing.”

“I’m glad it worked,” Luna said, with a smile.

“Thank you for teaching me,” Harry said.

“You’re welcome, Harry. Now, your homework is to do that every night before you go to sleep for a little while. It doesn’t have to be for very long, just an attempt at doing it.”

“This class has homework? Will there be a test later?” Harry said, though there was humour in his eyes.

“Tests can be anything, Harry, they can come at any time, from anywhere.” Luna said, then smiled. “So, yes, in a manner of speaking, there probably will be a test.”

Harry laughed, and Luna’s heart felt lighter at seeing her usually moody friend express some joy.

“Hey, uh, we haven’t really talked… since the Ministry. Well, besides when you lost your shoes. But I just want to check that you’re… doing okay?” Harry said, and Luna felt her heart swell.

Here was this brilliant boy, young man, who’d lost so much that night, but was checking up on her, how she was feeling after it.

“It was quite scary, to be honest. When everyone else was injured, and I knew I would be next.” Luna said, her eyes looking intently at Harry. “But I knew we would be okay.”

“How?” Harry said, his voice cracking. “How did you know that?”

“I have faith, Harry. Faith in our friends, in myself, in the people we trust to take of us.”

“There wasn’t a guarantee that help would come, though. There wasn’t a guarantee that we’d all make it out.” Harry was studying his hands, where they were shaking slightly, but twisted together in his lap.

“No, there wasn’t. But even if we hadn’t, we’d have been reunited eventually.”

“You truly believe in… something after death?”

“I do. I believe that this world isn’t all there is. I believe that my mother is watching over me, just as your parents and Sirius are watching over you. They’re guiding us from beyond this life. I think that that’s what our Sight is. We’re able to perceive the ways that they’re helping and use it consciously. We owe it to them to use their gifts for the magic that they are.” Luna said,her voice clear and confident, yet gentle.

Harry looked up at her, determination clear in his every breath.

“Teach me then. Teach me how to use it.”

And so she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Enjoy the rest of your day/night!


	8. The Places We Live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flatting together post-DH.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWs for this chapter: Miscommunication, alcohol, food.
> 
> A longer one to make up for the last! 3k words, woohoo!

“I’m home, and I brought food!” Harry called out to the flat that he and Luna shared, carefully juggling bags in his hands. “You home?”

“In the lounge room!” Luna’s voice said.

Harry dropped the bags of food off in the kitchen, then poked his head into the lounge room, to see Luna sitting on the floor, the coffee table having been moved out of the way. There were numerous papers floating in the air around her, shifting as she waved her hands in front of her. She had a Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes special quill in her hand, and was focusing intently on a muggle notebook in front her.

“I’ll dish up,” Harry said, and went back to the kitchen.

He had gotten food from an Indian place they’d found not too long before in their exploration of Muggle London take away restaurants, and had promptly told everyone about it. It was a hit with everyone who tried it, and Harry had become good friends with the owner and everyone who worked there.

Dishing them both up portions of the food he’d gotten, he carefully balanced them, and headed back to the lounge room.

Luna paused in her work to look up, and take the plate from Harry with a smile.

“Thanks!” She said.

“No worries,” Harry said. “What’re you working on?”

“Oh, that assignment, the one on habitat analysis.”

“Oh yeah, you were complaining about that one, right?” Harry said, the corner of his mouth quirked.

“The professor likes to mark people down for the tiniest things. I’m thinking of starting a revolution in the student body,” Luna said, and Harry laughed.

“I reckon the Boy-Who-Lived-Again-Then-Obliterated-The-Dark-Lord-Once-More can help with that,” Harry said.

“It gets longer every time you say it, I think,” Luna said, her eyes bright.

“Listen, for all the shit I went through, I’m allowed to make fun of my titles. Like that t-shirt I have that has ‘I defeated Voldemort, and all I got was this crappy t-shirt’ on it. Ron knows me so well.”

“Mmm. How was your day?” Luna asked.

“Terrible,” Harry said. “Kingsley keeps sending Hermione and I on missions with Ron, despite the fact that only Ron is training to be an Auror, and I’m going for a literal teaching degree, and Hermione’s doing who knows what that she can’t actually talk about. He keeps saying something about us being some of the most experienced people in the country, which I call bullshit to, there have to be a million better qualified people. Hiding in a tent for the better part of a year doesn’t mean shit.”

“Governments are all the same,” Luna said, a fire in her eyes, “Covering up their own bullshit.”

“Yeah, I know. I just thought that Kingsley would be different. He was actually there, you know? He went through it all too.” Harry said, with a sigh.

“When’s the next Wizengamot session?”

“This Friday,” Harry said. “I do like terrifying all the assholes with a look. Plus, since Arthur got the Weasley seat back, and Hermione got one of the Order of Merlin seats, there’s more of us.”

“Are you and Neville ready for it? You’re presenting the werewolf case, right?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, we’re super prepared. With Hermione on our side, how could we not be?”

“I wonder if it’s time I get the Lovegood seat back. Daddy’s quite busy, so he’d let me sit in it.”

“You know that we’d all support that. I wonder if we can do it by Friday?”

“I don’t mind waiting,” Luna said. “Now shh, eating time.”

Harry complied, and the two sat in the quiet, the sounds of chewing and their forks scraping the plates the only noise.

“Plate,” Harry said, when they were done, holding his hand out. Luna handed her plate over, and he went to go wash the dishes.

When he was done, he got into his pyjamas and went back out to the lounge, ready to tempt Luna.

“I rented the Star Wars movies again, are you keen for the first one tonight?”

“I do love Carrie Fisher,” Luna said. “Okay, yes, let’s.”

Soon, they were cuddled up on the couch watching Star Wars together, Luna’s fingers dancing up and down Harry’s arm.

“I’m very happy that we live together,” Harry said, towards the end of the film. 

He had suddenly been hit with a rush of affection for the woman he was cuddled up against, and was filled with a bunch of warm fuzzy feelings.

“I am rather as well,” Luna said.

The two had ended up finding a flat together purely by coincidence. With Ginny and Neville finding a place together, Luna had felt like she didn’t want to be a third wheel for the two, and the same for Harry, with the added bonus of Grimmauld Place holding bad memories of the war for him, so he went back occasionally, but left it empty for the most part. 

Word had gone in between their larger extended friend group, that they’d both been searching for a place to live, and then Ginny and Ron had made the decision for them, telling them that the two of them would be living together.

It had been quite a strange transition for them both. 

Harry had been so used to sleeping in a tent with Ron and Hermione, and Luna had been used to the Ravenclaw girls’ dorms, and then sleeping in the Room of Requirement with so many others.

They both went from sleeping in shared spaces, to having their own separate rooms in a medium sized flat (Harry had money and didn’t want to be cramped. Luna hadn’t even tried to sway a stubborn Harry who insisted on paying more than her because he could and had the funds to.)

The two had discovered a few days into their shared flat occupation that they were both highly affectionate people (and both secretly touch starved), when Luna had bolstered the courage up to put an arm around Harry’s shoulders, and he had almost burst into tears.

Since then, the two had taken every opportunity to cuddle up to each other, put an arm around the other’s shoulders, lean into their side, put a head on the other’s shoulder, and generally find a way to be touching anytime they were near each other.

  
The next day, the whole group were out together, grabbing lunch at a nice Muggle diner they’d found. 

Ginny, Ron, George, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Harry, and Luna were all squashed into one booth.

Harry and Luna were, as was usual for them by now, leaning on each other, Luna’s head on his shoulder, and Harry noticed their friends giving them the occasional amused look.

The group enjoyed a delicious lunch, all basking in each other’s company. They’d done occasional big group hang outs since the end of the war, but it had been a while since they’d all been able to make it to one spot at one time.

“So, what’s new with all of you?” Neville said, his arm around Ginny.

Harry enjoyed everyone saying what they had been doing recently, some people adding positive things, and others taking the time to have a small rant.

When it came to his moment to speak (they’d long since established an order when all of them were together, otherwise no one would get a chance), Harry said his own part about his course, and mentioned that he and Luna were doing the old Star Wars marathon again. 

“I swear, the two of you are going to do a Star Wars marathon on your fucking honey moon!” Ginny said.

Harry rolled his eyes as everyone laughed. He felt Luna chuckle slightly, the feeling vibrating through his chest.

A while later, everyone had finished eating and chatting, and the group was breaking into smaller groups to go off and do their own things.

Luna left to hang out with Neville and Ginny with a hug, and Ron grabbed his arm and pulled him into a walking formation between Ron and Hermione, with Harry in the middle as though he would run. (He knew running was futile when they did this. It meant they wanted something or even wanted to lecture him on something. It was never a good thing for Harry.)

“So…” Hermione said, then stopped. 

“So?” Harry said.

“What my lovely wife is trying to say, is when are you going to ask Luna the old question?” Ron said.

“When am I going to what?” Harry said, completely lost.

“You know, pop the question?”

“Oh, that clears it right up, thanks, Ron.” Harry said, rolling his eyes.

“For fucks sake, Harry, you are so dense. When are you going to ask her to marry you?” Ron said, and Harry heard Hermione sigh on his other side.

Then Ron’s words processed and Harry’s brain shut down.

What. What? WHAT?! Marriage?

“We’re not even together!” He managed to get out.

“What!?” Hermione said. “Of course you are, you’ve been together for ages! We’re not trying to pressure you into it, just wondering when you’re going to do it.”

“Hermione. Seriously. What the fuck. Luna and I aren’t dating, we’re not together, we never have been, we never will be. We’re just friends!”

Ron spluttered a little, and Hermione raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Mate, 'just friends' don't cuddle like the two of you do." Ron said.

"What-- we're just cuddly! We both had very non touchy childhoods, okay!" Harry said, defensively.

"Uh huh," Hermione said. "Sure. That's the only reason you simply have to be touching each other at all times. Not because you're being a repressed idiot who can't admit that he's in love with her?"

"In love-- what? Where did that even! No! For the last time! Luna and I aren't together!" Harry said. "Yes, she's cute, and lovely and kind and funny and puts up with my shit, and we cuddle all the time and hold hands, and go out for meals a lot, and she borrows my jumpers, and okay, yes, sometimes we sleep in the same bed at night, but it's just because... Oh Merlin, we're together, aren't we."

"Glad you can finally admit it to yourself, mate." Ron said, clapping Harry on the shoulder. 

"Holy fuck. Am I literally the last person to realise this?" Harry said, slightly shell-shocked. "Wait, does Luna think we're together too? I thought she would have said something."

"Mate, are we thinking about the same Luna Lovegood here? She's probably got some reason why she hasn't told you. Like you have an infestation of Wrackspurts that are stopping you from seeing clearly, but only you can get rid of them or something."

"No, it's Nargles that stop you seeing clearly," Harry said, his mouth moving automatically to defend his friend's creatures. 

"Great, now that you've admitted it, we can go to a bar and you can get drunk and cry on our shoulders about how you have the emotional range of a tea spoon. Sound good, Harry?" Ron said.

"Oh, Ron, leave him alone. You also have the emotional range of a tea spoon, and hence shouldn't make fun of the poor man for it too." Hermione scolded Ron, but with a small smile. "Come on, Harry. Ron's right about the getting drunk thing. It'll make everything better."

"I can't believe I'm in a relationship. I didn't even realise it." Harry said, not hearing what his friends were saying.

Hermione and Ron shared a look, and dragged him to a bar.

  
A few hours later, a very drunk Harry stumbled back into his and Luna's flat. 

This time though, he didn't say anything, his mind still on the state of his relationship with Luna. 

As he unsteadily walked his way to his room to pass the fuck out, he startled and flicked his wand out of it’s holster as Luna jumped out of her room, her own wand up.

They both stood for a moment, wands raised in a silent stand off.

“When did you and I decide to move in together?” Luna said, her usually dreamy expression gone, leaving steel in its place.

A drunken Harry slowly put the pieces together. Luna thought he was an intruder. And was testing him with a security question. Good form Luna. Wait. The question. Uhhhh. Oh, hang on.

“We didn’t, Ginny and Ron decided for us,” Harry said, trying his best not to slur his words.

Luna lowered her wand, and Harry did the same. He felt the adrenaline causing his heart to beat faster still, and knew that he would have had a hard time getting to sleep, if not for the alcohol coursing through him still. The combination probably meant nightmares though.

“You didn’t call out,” Luna said, and Harry had to strain to catch her words, the volume was so soft.

“I— what?” His brain was really not working on all cylinders right then.

“You usually call out that you’re home,” Luna said, and Harry noticed her hands were shaking slightly.

Shit. Fuck. He was too drunk for this. 

“I’m sorry,” He said, and slowly put his arms around her. “I’m a bit out of it.”

“I know, I can smell the alcohol on you.” She said, her head coming to rest on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Harry said, the words coming out automatically.

“You don’t have to pretend around me, I know you’re just saying that, I can tell,” Luna said, her voice muffled, but Harry could hear the slightly accusing tone still. Fuck, he kept forgetting how perceptive Luna could be.

“Ah shit. It’s… well, you’re going to think it’s stupid. Also, I’m drunk as a skunk, so how about I tell you tomorrow?” 

Luna pulled out of the hug and fished around in her pocket for a moment, and pulled out a vial with a clear liquid in it. Harry took it, prepared for a brief moment, and poured it into his mouth. If she was giving him the potion instead of just letting him ride it out, it meant that she was serious.

A few moments passed as the sobering potion worked it’s magic, and Harry groaned slightly as the pressure in his head built almost to a boiling point, before passing and taking it with it the buzz that he’d worked up over an evening of drinking.

He opened his eyes again, to Luna’s grey ones peering at him. Nodding at her, he took her hand and gently pulled her into the lounge room, and sat on the couch. Their legs naturally tangled together, two years of habit taking over despite the situation. Placing the empty vial on the coffee table in front of him, Harry turned to look at her. 

“Okay, so uh. Ron and Hermione brought to my attention that we have been… very affectionate?” He said, after a few moments of her looking at him, waiting for him to begin talking. When she didn’t say anything, he just kept going. “They had thought, until I told them otherwise, that we are in a… relationship. A romantic one. And I told them that we aren’t. But uh, then I thought about all the things we do, like cuddling, and sleeping in the same bed, and stealing each other’s clothes, and stuff, and I realised that we sort of are? I guess? Feel free to say we’re not, but we do a lot of things that couples do.”

Luna was silent for a few long moments, and Harry’s heart felt like it was about to shrivel up and turn to ash in his chest.

“Did it bother you?” She said, finally.

“Huh?” Harry said, then processed what she said. “Well, yeah!”

Then he saw the look on her face, and hurriedly kept on talking.

“Not because I don’t love you,” The words came quickly. “But because I would have liked to have known I was in a relationship! I would have preferred to do everything the right way, like asking you out, and going on dates, and asking you to be my girlfriend when we were both ready, but we didn’t have any of that! Because I’m dumb and bad at realising things!”

Harry looked at Luna to see what her reaction to his rambling was. Luna was sitting, her eyes trained on his face, her expression soft, fond, loving.

She reached a hand out and brushed her fingers over his cheek.

“Oh, my Harry.” She said. “I love you too.”

“Wait—”

“Of course I knew already, I was waiting for you to catch up. I should have known that Hermione and Ron would be the ones to make you figure it out.”

“But… you never said anything?” Harry said, slightly hurt. Had he done something wrong?

“I knew if I told you that you’d panic and pull away. I’ve been waiting for you to figure it out for a year and a half.” She said.

“I wouldn’t have—” Harry said, and Luna gave him a look. “Okay, maybe, but it feels like you didn’t let me make the choice of whether I wanted to be in this relationship or not.”

“Do you want to be?” She asked. 

“Of course! It’s just… Argh, how do I say this? Merlin’s pants.” Harry said, then took a deep breath, organising his thoughts a little, into some semblance of order. 

“You know that all my life, I didn’t have choices. I was with my aunt and uncle, then I went to Hogwarts, then suddenly a few years pass and I’m the Chosen One. I have to defeat Voldemort, I’m the only one who can. I couldn’t do anything to stop it, I couldn’t say fuck it and go to America and escape that whole thing. I know, listen I do know, that the prophecy thing has fucked me up in countless ways, probably more than I even know about. But it felt like those choices were taken away from me. So now, I find out that I didn’t get to make the choice about our relationship, and it feels, well, it feels bad. I love you, and I want to be with you, yes, but I would have liked to make that choice by myself. Does that make sense?” He said, getting more into what he was saying as he spoke.

“That does make sense.” Luna said. “I… hear where you’re coming from. I should have said something, and I’m sorry. I thought that my way would be the easiest and best, and I should have realised that it was hurting you. I’m sorry, can you forgive me?”

Harry pulled her in for a hug. 

“Of course I can.” He said. “Now, Luna Lovegood, will you do me the honour of going with me on a date?”

“I would be delighted to, Harry Potter.” 

“That’s great, because I rented the Star Wars movies yesterday, and I hear you’re into them too, so why don’t we watch the second one as our date, right now?” He said, a grin on his face.

“That sounds perfect.”

“You know, we really should just buy the damn movies.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Would love to hear what you thought!
> 
> I'll be chucking up new chapters as I finish and briefly edit them (I'm bad at editing, I am sorry!)


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